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Владимир
'Family Guy' cartoon.
Stewie said to Brian (who was driving a car),
"Gymboree is that way. Brian, it's parachute day!"
dear native English speakers, could you please explain why it wasn't, say, "A/THE parachute day"?
I understand what parachute days in Gymboree are, but I am frustrated about articles absent in this case
Feb 11, 2023 9:42 PM
Answers · 4
2
We often use no article with the names of holidays or other special (or even not so special) days:
Valentines Day
St. Patrick's Day
Labor Day
Memorial Day
Taco Tuesday
casual Friday
We might use an article (or some other determiner) to be more specific about which of those days we're referring to:
...the first Valentine's Day after we got married...
...the last Labor Day before I graduated...
...his first Christmas...
...the last Taco Tuesday ever if you guys don't clean up the mess in the break room...
February 12, 2023
1
I agree holidays do not take an article.
In Stewie's response, "It's parachute day," Parachute Day is one thing like Christmas Day and hence no article. He could have said, "It is a parachute day." That day would have been one of many parachute days. Gymboree probably has more than one parachute day and using the article would be correct. You do hear the dropped article for other "special" days that are not properly holidays. Examples "It's movie night," "It's pizza night" You could use the indefinite article here, but will usually hear it dropped. Hope that helps.
February 12, 2023
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Владимир
Language Skills
English, Russian
Learning Language
English
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